Bursak Struggles, While Uzelkov, Salamov Shine

By Alexey Sukachev

Max Bursak’s “British Voyage” isn’t getting any easier with each fought contest. After scoring a relatively close win over Prince Arron in a voluntary defense of his EBU middleweight title in July, the 29-year old Ukrainian came just a couple of rounds short of his second career loss, while escaping narrowly with a unanimous decision over another unheralded Brit Nick Blackwell. The bout took place at the Locomotiv Arena in Kharkiv, Ukraine, this past Saturday under K2 Ukraine Promotions.

“The Tiger” Bursak (now 28-1-1, 12 KOs) was floored for the first time in his career in round four. All three judges (Manuel Olivier Palomo, Pierluiggi Poppi and Ove Ovesen) had it for the local fighter: 115-112 (twice) and 114-112. Referee was Mikael Hook.

“This fight was damn hard for me. My opponent was young, fresh, skillful and very willing. If he continues to develop this fast, he will soon be found to be the next star in making”, praised WBA/WBO #5, WBC #10 and IBF #13 rated Bursak his 22-year old opponent, who falls down to 13-3, 6 KOs, with close losses to Bursak and Billy Joe Saunders and a decisive one – to Martin Murray.

“I have never been floored before, and I just hope I won’t be floored in the near future as well – it was a harsh experience”.

The bout had some controversy over it too. It was first been reported as the European title defense for the champion, then other reports started to flow, and finally the bout was announced as somewhat strange WBA Continental title, for whatever it means.

[QUOTE=D-MiZe;13778547]Blackwell deserved the decision but that's never going to happen in Bursak's backyard. Hope his promoter stops f[COLOR="Black"]u[/COLOR]cking around and starts getting him good fights.[/QUOTE]
Blackwell won 4 rds w/ KD, tops.